The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 05, 1999
Filed:
Nov. 26, 1996
Mathias Trau, Princeton, NJ (US);
Ilhan A Aksay, Princeton, NJ (US);
Dudley A Saville, Princeton, NJ (US);
The Trustees of Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (US);
Abstract
A method apparatus is provided for electrophoretically depositing particles onto an electrode, and electrohydrodynamically assembling the particles into crystalline structures. Specifically, the present method and apparatus creates a current flowing through a solution to cause identically charged electrophoretically deposited colloidal particles to attract each other over very large distances (<5 particle diameters) on the surface of electrodes to form two-dimensional colloidal crystals. The attractive force can be created with both DC and AC fields and can modulated by adjusting either the field strength or frequency of the current. Modulating this 'lateral attraction' between the particles causes the reversible formation of two-dimensional fluid and crystalline colloidal states on the electrode surface. Further manipulation allows for the formation of two or three-dimensional colloidal crystals, as well as more complex 'designed' structures. Once the required structures are formed, these three-dimension colloidal crystals can be permanently 'frozen' or 'glued' by controlled coagulation induced by to the applied field to form a stable crystalline structure.